Indian minister slapped

An Indian youth on Thursday slapped a powerful federal minister in charge of agriculture, to protest against the soaring prices of essential commodities. Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar was leaving New Delhi Municipal Corporation centre after attending a function when the youth, identified as Harvinder Singh, managed to approach and hit him on the left side of his face, before being pushed away by accompanying officials and unarmed private security personnel. The youth was heard shouting, “Ghotala, Ghotala, (corruption, corruption)… tang agaya hoon ghotalon se (fed of up of scams),” trying to break free even as he was being led away. At one point, he took out a kirpan (small knife). “Sab chor hain...cheer doonga...cheer doonga (They’re all thieves. I will rip them apart), the man, a local transporter in his thirties, shouted as he was being whisked away. Pawar, 71, appeared to lose his balance momentarily but recovered fast. Singh was handed over to police. Pawar, on his part, remained calm. “I was answering some questions from a group of journalists when I saw this man coming towards me. “I thought he wanted to ask me a question. I don’t know what his intention was. It is up to the police whether they want to press charges against him or not,” he said. Leaders cutting across political lines condemned the attack saying it cannot be tolerated in a democracy. Pawar’s Nationalist Congress Party activists protested across his home state, Maharashtra.